Kim, Jusung / Ch1 Initial Draft / 2017 Summer Prose & Paragraphs

The Blessings of the Younger Ones

Forer insists that "The later children enjoy many advantages as a result of having more relaxed parents." As a younger son in my family, I have been through multiple situations where I faced more relaxed parents than my older sister. How I thought of my family and how my sister thought of my family was very different. My parents had learned how to deal with the problems of us, and as a result, I could face relatively general and relaxed parents in my childhood. There could be many reasons why life of younger ones is blessed, so I state that children of younger birth order live the most appealing life because they have less pressure from their parents, less responsibility in family, and more sufficient environment.

Children of younger or youngest birth order's life is more relaxed because they do not need to feel the pressure or expectation to be at some standards like the oldest children would. And if they do so, not as high as the oldest does so the pressure is lower. For example, both of my sister and I had stolen money from my parents once. I know that stealing money from parents' pocket is obviously a misbehavior, but I couldn't help myself when I was young just like my sister. She and I took 5,000 won from parents without permission. She now recalls that it was a painful experience to go through father's, mother's, and grandmother's discipline and says that it was too much punishment for a child. Years after, when I made the same mistake, I had to go through the same sequence of discipline. Nevertheless, I never thought that I was dealt with excessive scolding or spanking. Likewise, my parents learned some lessons from my sister, and realized that stealing in childhood can happen and if dealt with properly, will not happen again. As a result, I could grow up under more relaxed parents than my sister.

Secondly, Younger ones' life is more attractive because they relatively have to take charge on less things since the oldest take most of the responsibility for most of the time. Forer also says that "When a sibling arrives, he (first child) tries to suppress the view of himself as a child, and he struggles to be parental." This applied to my family too. Trying to be parental, my sister looked after me with many problems. She always took charge in the matters like house chores, dining, entertainment when it was just the two of us in the house. I understand that this quotation of Forer may not apply to all families, but it did to mine. So, I think the younger child's life is easier than the older child's and that is connected to attractiveness of it.

Lastly, most parents become economically and socially sufficient as they get aged, which makes it easier and more sufficient for the younger ones maintain their lives. I admit that I cannot generalize this, but it is true that people earn more money as they get older and more experienced. In my case, I grew up without concerns or deficiencies even though it was not a wealthy life. On the other hand, my sister still remembers how small the apartment that we lived in was and I do not. In addition, I could study abroad when I was young because my parents could save money while my sister got a chance when she was older. I think in this way younger children's life is better.

 It shows in the paragraphs above that my sister lived an insufficient life, but the disadvantages of the childhood were all compensated later even though the past is still a past. At the same time, I admit that there exist the disadvantages to be a younger one in family although I did not mention them in this writing. Revealing my family's unfairness was not my intention to write this essay, but to demonstrate that the younger child's life is more attractive than the older child's in general. To sum up, I think that the children of younger or youngest birth order lives the most appealing life because they generally face more relaxing parents, have less responsibility than the older ones, and live a more sufficient life.